DB Multiverse

DBM Universe 14 (Cyborgs): One Way

Written by Foenidis

Adapted by Adamantine & TheOverlyMadHatter

Following the deaths of the Z Warriors as told in Twin Pain, Universes 12 and 14 had a few years in common before everything fell apart for the latter. What are the events that led to Trunks' victory in one, and to the reign of the Artificial Humans in the other?

Son Gohan wasn't a full grown man yet but circumstances had made him a seasoned warrior.

A pang of sadness tore through Bulma' heart... His childhood had been trampled on by cruelty and thirst for power.

Raditz, the Piccolo's forced training, Nappa and Vegeta, the Namek saga, then the cyborgs... The young Saiyan never had a moment's respite in his short life.

And yet, he had been so sweet, so innocent... what a waste!

All his friends being killed in a row... the destruction of the planet, the countless victims... all of this had contributed to sweep away all innocence he had left.

There was that saying that said that when life gives you lemon, make lemonade... Maybe without the power he had acquired in his constant fight against the cyborgs, he'd not have been able to suppress this new threat...

Her thoughts made the young woman sigh... How useful it had been... Could this have been worst that what they were going through now?... She didn't dare believe it.

Oh well... in case.

Bulma felt tempted to show the clock she had hidden on her screen...

No! It was too early! If she started looking at the time every two minutes, the wait would be even more unbearable.

Better think back of Son Gohan's strange adventure!

The soft voice of her friend's son rang in Bulma's memory... enabling her to, in turn, travel back in time.

That morning, Son Gohan had, for once, managed to detect the cyborgs before they started destroying everything.

Partially hidden by a layer of light clouds, he was watching them from afar, on the lookout for the right moment for an efficient attack.

But for now, his double target was slowly flying over the city... they were too close to the already damaged building for the Saiyan to do anything without putting many innocent lives uselessly in danger.

There was absolutely no logic in their behaviour, and they actually could very well go away from this city without damaging it further... It already had happened... To seldom, that was true... but it was useless to trigger their destructive fury if they were going to let it be.

The young fighter had been here, deep in thought, when something totally unexpected caught his attention.

An unknown ki was going near him... from the sky!

The cyborg didn't emit any ki... and besides, they were over there, under his eyes...

It wasn't young Trunks' ki either... and, even if it didn't emit a huge power... it was much more powerful than an average human being.

Careful, Gohan, who didn't bother hiding his own ki as his opponent were unable to notice it, concealed it... just before moving at top speed.

So it was from an upper position that he saw a strange person getting near the place he had had the good idea to leave just a second earlier.

The man looked disconcerted... holding a strange device in front of him. He was looking all around him, moving his arm... as if he wanted to seize the waves.

Everything in him lead to believe he came from another world:

His green skin, his head, that looked a bit like the head of a batrachian with weird side whiskers and long and slender ears.

His fighting suit was different too: dark tights with reddish shine that were covered with the white upper part of armour with two kind of horns in the back, at shoulder level. He also wore white boots and gloves.

This get-up, even though it was a tad different, reminded the young Saiyan of Freeza's army's equipments.

Down below, in the city, under the cloudy halo... columns of smoke now marked the path of the infernal twins...

They hadn't moved on then.

The young man's eyes went back to the strange unknown being who swooped towards the explosions.

Puzzled, Son Gohan decided to follow him... Let the city fight the cyborgs' destructive madness all alone broke his heart, but a fight down-town always made even more damages anyway. Yet this capital was still very populous.

Between two evils, one must choose the lesser... And he couldn't take the liberty to lose sight of this soldier from outer space! He certainly hadn't come all this way only for sight-seeing.

Therefore, it was with a heavy heart that the fighter wearing an orange suit watched the weird man in the weird fighting suit starring at what was going on on the ground.

Holding his mysterious device in front of him... he looked at it with each explosion as Son Gohan could see a needle swinging in its dial... And this needle moved with each attack from the cyborgs.

Those two suddenly stopped annihilating the city and the needle stopped moving.

The unknown person nervously tapped his small case, then shook it as if it could be defective and then he looked once again towards the last explosions.

After a short grown, sign of irritation, he abruptly turned back to go where he came from at top speed... followed by his former prey, thus switching roles, he now was the hunter.

Son Gohan had stopped once he had seen the unknown being getting down.

He now carefully walked through the craggy area of the arid region in which the tail of the stranger had led him.

He didn't need to follow him anymore.

He could perceive several vital strengths... This allowed him to locate the final destination of the soldier without much problem.

His intuition proved right... The man wasn't alone.

Moreover, there was a strange seismic activity in this area... hardly perceptible light vibrations that didn't seem to be natural at all.

The young Saiyan leapt from one peak to another with stupendous agility and rapidity.

He suddenly froze, remaining motionless for a while... before jumping down the rocks and slowly walking, sadness, as well as anger, darkening his eyes...

Now this confirmed, if there was need of it, the nature of these strange visitors!

In the heart of the green valley he had just reached, an oasis of greenery in the dry landscape... There was the ruins of a small farm, steams still rising into the air.

He could see the corpses of man and animals covering the grass all around the torn open buildings.

A little girl in a pink dress, her eyes wide open on the dread that her last moment had been. She was still holding her rag doll tight into her hands that she had pressed against her small chest... while a red spot darkened the soft color of her clothing, right where she had been shot.

Son Gohan softly carried the inert body to place it near the cadaver of a young woman who had certainly been her mother, a few feet from her. He stepped over the corpse of the faithful dog who hadn't been spared.

A moment after, he had gathered what seemed to be the members of one family... parents, children, grand-parents... everyone of them united in death...

A tear ran down the young man's cheek... How many corpses of innocent people had he faced... thousands... dozens of thousands... Many more? … He couldn't say...

It was impossible to put number to horror... and his heart doggedly refused to consider it normal...

The number... The years didn't make it any different.

Small bumps showed the fresh tombs. He had made crosses with sticks, on which he had taken care to place a clue to identify who was laying under: a grand-father's pipe, the mother's medallion, the blood stained doll of the little girl...

After he had taken a few minutes to mourn in the small new cemetery, Son Gohan got up, his eyes filled with hatred.

He was not going to let other killers spread terror and death in a world that already was plagued with an unbearable cancer!

It'd be dealt with quickly... even if he added up the strength of all those fighters, the results still was nothing beside his own!

Except maybe for one of them... One that clearly stood out... but even that one was going to be easily shot down.

They were going to bitterly regret the idea of having chosen this planet for their evil deeds!

Son Gohan was now approaching with extra care... He knew he was very close to the invaders' gathering place.

The rocky place was extremely craggy... and he was made sure he didn't move any thing that could cause a crumbling whose noise would have rung out through the abrupt walls.

First, he had to assess what the situation exactly was before move into action... The kis of these unknown persons weren't really a cause to worry... that was right, but he didn't know anything about their weaponry... Besides, the presence of robotic fighters, or fighters that were able to hide their true power could be worth considering.

From his experience, he had learnt that he shouldn't think low of his opponent just because of a first impression... And underestimating the enemy could prove to be fatal.

The young warrior suddenly stopped his progress... Two new kis just got his attention.

Those two were very different... And very strange.

If one appeared to be relatively weak, it still seemed to be rather frightening... As for the other one...

Besides, if those two just came, it meant there could be much more that were hidden to him... This mystery definitely proved itself to be more and more complicated to deal with.

Son Gohan's expression changed from mild surprise to intense determination... Nicking this threat in the bud was the main priority!

He went on his way with care... No matter how in a hurry he was to reach his goal, he had to make sure he wasn't noticed... Especially considering that the most powerful individuals was now moving as well... and much faster than he was.

The young man didn't forgot to watch the sky and anything above him... even if it seemed he could perceive the position of all his opponents, he couldn't neglect anything.

He was now crawling... aware that his orange and blue fighting suit wasn't quite the asset in the middle of this neutral coloured landscape.

He eventually lifted on his forearms to look above a kind of natural small rock wall.

He froze at first... trying to hold back a sneeze because of the small forked tongue that the pit viper Gohan just disturbed was holding out as a protest sign, right under the warrior's nose... Eventually, the beast decided that strange being wasn't a threat and it uncoiled to slip between stones and swiftly disappear.

At least, Son Goku's son discovered what this wide valley, overlooked by this rocky mountain where he came from, kept hidden.

He immediately saw them, over there, another sacrificed family in the name of these strangers' desire of tranquillity... He restrained himself from getting out of his hiding place... But in any case, they couldn't be saved. It was to be expected, those killers certainly have cleaned all around the place. His attention went back to the strange activity that was happening before him.

In the middle of the meadow there was a group of unknown people that seemed to be watching the very slow descent of a space ship that looked like sinking into the ground...

So that was the meaning of these strange vibrations whose intensity had kept rising as he gradually came nearer to the dangerous zone!

The structure of the vehicle seemed to be really complicated and there certainly was at least another floor that this one, which now was below the ground.

Why would extra-terrestrials bother to bury their spaceship?...

… If it wasn't because they planned on settling on Earth for quite a while! …